San Diego County: How to Buy a Home With Solar Panels and Budget for SDG&E Bills (November 2026)

On Tuesday night, November 10, San Diego Gas & Electric customers packed the Santee City Council chambers for a California Public Utilities Commission hearing on SDG&E's next rate request. Many of them were angry. The utility wants $280 million more in revenue for 2028. SDG&E's own hearing notice says that would add about $14.03 a month to the average residential electric bill (400 kWh a month) and $8.45 to the average gas bill, starting in 2028 if approved. Local reports put the combined increase at about $22.48 a month, or 8.6%. This comes on top of electricity that already costs about 61.5 cents a kilowatt-hour from 4 to 9 p.m. this winter on SDG&E's standard plan.

For a home buyer, that makes the electric bill part of the purchase decision. And in San Diego County, where many homes for sale already have panels on the roof, it raises a question that the MLS listing rarely answers well: what exactly are you buying when you buy a house "with solar"? The answer depends on who owns the panels, which billing plan they are on, how many years of that plan are left, and whether a loan, lease or PACE lien comes with them. Two homes that look alike can have electric costs that differ by more than $100 a month and loan approvals that differ by tens of thousands of dollars.

This guide covers this week's numbers, how SDG&E bills work today, the four kinds of "solar home," why an older NEM system can be worth much more than a newer one, how lenders treat owned, financed, leased and PACE-financed panels, and twelve steps from the listing to your first bill.

Here is what is in the news this week:

• SDG&E's 2028 rate request drew a crowd in Santee. The request (CPUC application A.26-06-015) asks for about $3.8 billion in 2028, $280 million (8.1%) more than expected 2027 revenue, plus a formula that SDG&E says would raise revenue by another 5.5% to 8.7% a year in 2029 through 2031, according to the utility's hearing notice. Local reports put the increases at about $1.07 billion over four years. SDG&E says the money is for wildfire mitigation, gas and electric system upgrades, technology and rising costs such as insurance. Two more public hearings, by phone and webcast, are set for December 9 and 10 at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Local reports say a decision is not likely for at least a year. Nothing changes on your bill now.
• Winter rates took effect November 1. SDG&E's standard Time-of-Use plan, TOU-DR1, now charges 61.471¢ per kWh on-peak (4–9 p.m.), 53.060¢ off-peak and 43.719¢ super off-peak for customers who buy their power from SDG&E, with a credit of 10.702¢ per kWh on usage up to 130% of the home's baseline. Every residential account also pays a Base Services Charge of $0.79343 a day, about $23.80 for a 30-day bill, solar or not.
• The federal solar tax credit is gone for new systems. Under the July 4, 2025 federal budget law, the 30% Residential Clean Energy Credit does not apply to any expenditure made after December 31, 2025. An expenditure counts as "made" when installation is completed. If you buy a home and add solar now, you should not count on that credit. Unused credits from systems installed in 2025 or earlier can still be carried forward by the person who claimed them, not by a buyer.
• The rule that would have stripped NEM status on sale did not become law. An earlier version of Assembly Bill 942 would have moved a home's older net-metering system to the current tariff when the home was sold. Those provisions were struck in a July 17, 2025 amendment. The bill now deals only with the California Climate Credit, and it has sat in the Senate Rules Committee since August 29, 2025. As of today, an older NEM system's remaining years still transfer to a buyer at the same address.
• Mortgage rates eased again. The national average 30-year rate was 7.18% for the week of November 5, 2026, down from 7.24% the week before (6.22% a year ago). The next survey comes out Thursday, November 12.

The San Diego County market snapshot (October 2026)

We refreshed the county and ZIP figures on the afternoon of November 11, 2026. October 2026 is still the latest month available.

The share of listings with a price cut is the published share (20.5%), not the price-reduced count divided by active listings. Figures are from public housing-market data for October 2026.

What this means for a solar-home shopper: one listing in five has cut its price, pendings are down about 15% from a year ago, and new listings are down 28%. Buyers have time to ask for the solar paperwork, and room to negotiate if the system comes with a lease, a lien, or a billing plan that is worth less than the seller thinks.

East County and inland North County by ZIP code (October 2026)

Inland neighborhoods tend to run air conditioning longer in summer, so the electric bill and the solar system matter more to the monthly budget. These ZIP codes are shown with two coastal-side comparisons (Chula Vista 91910 and Carlsbad 92009). Look up your exact climate zone, which sets your baseline allowance, on SDG&E's map.

Price-cut share is the published share of listings with a price cut. We left out Poway 92064 and Oceanside 92054 this month because of a data quality flag on their October figures.

How to read it: in Santee, the city where Tuesday's hearing took place, nearly one listing in three (31.0%) has cut its price, and the median asking price is down 9.2% from a year ago. In Escondido 92025 the share is 30.1%. These are places where a buyer can ask a seller to fix a solar problem, pay off a solar loan, or credit the cost of a lease buyout.

How an SDG&E bill works today

Most San Diego County homes are on TOU-DR1, SDG&E's standard Time-of-Use plan. Price depends on the hour:

• On-peak, 4 to 9 p.m. every day: 61.471¢ per kWh this winter (69.135¢ in summer).
• Off-peak: 53.060¢. On weekdays that covers 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. to midnight. (In March and April, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays is super off-peak instead.)
• Super off-peak: 43.719¢, midnight to 6 a.m. on weekdays and midnight to 2 p.m. on weekends and holidays.
• Baseline credit: 10.702¢ off each kWh up to 130% of your baseline. In winter, the basic baseline is 9.2 kWh a day in SDG&E's coastal climate zone and 9.6 inland (12.9 mountain, 10.9 desert). Homes with permanent electric space heating can apply for a larger "all-electric" allowance (13.5 coastal, 15.8 inland in winter).
• Base Services Charge: $0.79343 a day, about $23.80 a month or $289.60 a year, on every residential account. Solar export credits cannot be used to pay it.

If your power comes from a Community Choice Aggregator. In much of the county, generation is bought by San Diego Community Power or Clean Energy Alliance, and SDG&E charges only for delivery. Those customers pay the CCA's generation price instead of SDG&E's, and the CCA sets its own solar export credits. Ask the seller which provider serves the home and get copies of both bills.

What a bill looks like without solar (our illustration). We used SDG&E's current TOU-DR1 winter rates for a customer who buys power from SDG&E, a 30-day bill, and an assumed split of 30% of use on-peak, 50% off-peak and 20% super off-peak. Taxes, city franchise fees and any CARE or FERA discount are not included.

Calculated with math.py in our data folder. Your bill will differ with your actual hours of use, climate zone, season, provider and any discount program.

The takeaway: once you pass your baseline, almost every extra kWh costs more than 50 cents. A larger inland home that runs air conditioning in summer, charges an electric car, or has an electric heat pump can easily have a bill in the hundreds of dollars. That is real money to fit next to a mortgage payment, and it is exactly what a solar system on the roof is supposed to cut.

The four kinds of "solar home"

When a listing says "solar," the system is usually one of these:

1. Owned outright. The seller paid cash or paid off the loan. The panels are part of the house, and the price you pay includes them. Standard loan rules apply.
2. Owned with a loan still on it. The seller financed the system, often with a UCC-1 financing statement or a "fixture filing" recorded against the property. The loan usually must be paid off at closing, or the lender must agree to stay behind your new mortgage.
3. Leased, or on a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). A solar company owns the panels. You pay a monthly lease or a price per kWh produced. You can take over the contract only with the company's approval, which usually includes a credit check. Some contracts let the seller buy out the system or prepay the balance instead.
4. Financed with PACE (HERO and similar programs). The loan is repaid through an assessment on the property-tax bill, and it is a lien on the property. Sellers sometimes do not realize it is there because it sits on the tax bill.

The California Association of REALTORS® Solar Advisory and Questionnaire (C.A.R. Form SOLAR, revised 12/25) warns that many owners who believe they own their system outright do not, and that MLS descriptions are not contracts. Get the documents.

The billing plan is worth more than the panels

How much a system saves you depends heavily on the billing plan it is attached to, and the rules for a buyer differ by plan:

When a NEM system's 20 years run out, SDG&E moves the account to the Solar Billing Plan. SDG&E states that "if you recently moved into a property that has solar, the NEM legacy period began when the solar panels were initially installed and interconnected." A system interconnected in 2017 keeps NEM until about 2037. One interconnected in 2022 keeps it until about 2042.

How big is the difference? A November example. We averaged SDG&E's published 2026 export prices for Solar Billing Plan customers without a lock-in (the "NBT00" schedule, generation plus delivery credits, for customers who buy power from SDG&E) for November's midday hours, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.:

• Solar Billing Plan export credit, November midday: about 5.33¢ per kWh on weekdays and 2.17¢ on weekends and holidays, about 4.17¢ blended across the month. Even from 4 to 9 p.m. on weekdays it averages only about 8.75¢.
• NEM 2.0 on TOU-DR1, November midday: roughly 51.0¢ on weekdays (off-peak) and 41.6¢ on weekends (super off-peak), after subtracting about 2.1¢ of non-bypassable charges. That blends to about 47.5¢.

So 300 kWh sent to the grid at midday in November earns roughly $142.61 in bill credits on NEM 2.0, but only about $12.52 on the Solar Billing Plan, a gap of about $130 a month on the same panels. That is why a home with a NEM 2.0 system and many years left on its legacy period can be worth more than a similar home whose system was installed in 2024.

Our illustration, calculated with math.py from SDG&E's 2026 export-price file and TOU-DR1 rate table. Real NEM credits are netted hour by hour and trued up once a year. CCA customers receive their CCA's generation credits instead.

Why a battery matters on the Solar Billing Plan. Solar Billing Plan households use SDG&E's EV-TOU-5 rate, where on-peak power costs 52.383¢ per kWh this winter. Each kWh you store at midday instead of exporting it, then use between 4 and 9 p.m., is worth roughly 47¢ on a November weekday (52.4¢ avoided minus 5.3¢ of lost export credit). If a battery shifts 10 kWh a day, that is on the order of $145 a month in November. Ask whether the home's battery is included, owned and working. The CPUC's Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) offers rebates for adding storage.

How lenders treat solar panels

Your lender, not the listing, decides how the panels count. The rules most conventional lenders follow are:

• Owned panels (paid in cash, included in the price, paid off, or covered by the first mortgage): standard appraisal, insurance and title rules apply, and the panels can add value.
• Separately financed panels with a recorded UCC fixture filing: the loan payment counts in your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio. The panels can count toward value only if they cannot be repossessed if the solar loan defaults.
• Leased panels or a PPA: the panels add no value to the appraisal or the loan-to-value ratio. A lease payment counts in your DTI unless the lease delivers a set amount of energy for a fixed payment and has a production guarantee. A PPA that charges only for energy actually produced can be excluded from DTI. The contract must make the solar company responsible for repairing roof damage from installation, malfunction or removal, and the company must not be named on your homeowner's insurance.
• PACE: Most conventional loans will not be made unless the PACE lien is paid in full before or at closing.

FHA, VA and jumbo lenders have their own rules. Ask your lender early.

What a lease does to your buying power. At the 7.18% average, every $100 a month of lease payment counted in your DTI supports about $14,762 less in mortgage at the same total payment. A buyer who is close to the edge of qualifying can lose a meaningful amount of loan by taking over a lease.

Run the numbers: an $889,000 home at 7.18%

Take the county's October median listing price of $889,000 with 20% down:

Before insurance, HOA dues, voter-approved bonds and special taxes, mortgage insurance and utilities other than electricity. Calculated with math.py.

For a Santee example at the 92071 median of $679,450, 20% down ($135,890) leaves a $543,560 loan, about $3,682 a month in principal and interest, plus about $566 in base tax, or $4,248 before insurance and utilities.

Now compare two versions of the same house. If one has an owned NEM 2.0 system with 15 years left that brings the electric bill near zero most months, and the other has no solar, the gap can be hundreds of dollars a month. If the solar comes with a lease, subtract the lease payment from the savings and count it in your DTI. If the system is on the Solar Billing Plan with no battery, expect much smaller savings from exports than the seller's old bills may show.

How to buy a home with solar: Steps 1–12

Step 1: Ask for the solar documents before you write an offer. Ask the listing agent for the completed C.A.R. Form SOLAR, the solar contract or proof of purchase, any loan or lease statement, the SDG&E interconnection approval ("permission to operate") letter showing the date, and the last 12 months of SDG&E (and CCA) bills, including the annual true-up statement.

Step 2: Find out who owns the panels. Owned, owned with a loan, leased or PPA, or PACE. Ask your title officer to look for UCC-1 or fixture filings and check the property-tax bill for a PACE or HERO assessment. Do not rely on the MLS.

Step 3: Find out which billing plan the system is on and the date it started. NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0 or the Solar Billing Plan, and the original interconnection date. Count the years left: 20 years from that date for NEM. If it is on the Solar Billing Plan, assume you will not inherit the seller's lock-in unless you are the spouse or domestic partner.

Step 4: Get the true-up history. A NEM home's monthly bills can look tiny while a large charge comes at the annual true-up. Ask for the last true-up statement and the 12-month usage and production totals. If the seller has an electric car or a pool and you will not (or the reverse), adjust.

Step 5: Check the system itself. Ask for the panel and inverter make, size (kW), age and warranty, the installer's name, and the monitoring app login or production history. Panels that produce less than the contract promised are a red flag. If the system was installed by a company that has since closed (Sunnova, for example, filed for Chapter 11 on June 8, 2025), find out who services it now.

Step 6: Get the roof inspected with the panels in mind. Your home inspector should note roof age and condition. If the roof needs replacing in a few years, the panels will have to come off and go back on. Get a quote, and check whether the solar contract or warranty covers removal.

Step 7: If it is a lease or PPA, read the transfer terms. Look for the monthly payment, the annual escalator, the years left, the buyout price, what happens at the end of the term, who repairs roof damage, and the credit requirements for a buyer to take it over. Start the transfer application early, because the solar company's approval can take time.

Step 8: Tell your lender exactly what the system is. Give the lender the contract and statements on day one. Ask whether the lease will count in your DTI, whether the panels will be given value in the appraisal, and whether a solar loan or PACE lien must be paid off at closing.

Step 9: Price the solar into your offer. An owned NEM system with many years left is worth more than a leased system or a Solar Billing Plan system without a battery. Use local price-cut shares (31.0% in Santee 92071, 30.1% in Escondido 92025) to ask the seller to pay off a solar loan or PACE lien, buy out a lease, fix the roof, or give a credit.

Step 10: Put the solar terms in the contract. Make sure the purchase agreement and the leased and liened items contingency cover the system, the battery, the monitoring equipment, any lien payoff, and the lease transfer, with enough time in escrow to finish them.

Step 11: Budget your electric bill on your own life. Use the rate tables above, your own expected use, the home's climate zone and your provider. Check whether you qualify for CARE or FERA (FERA takes 18% off the bill for eligible households). If you plan to add solar or a battery, get quotes without counting on the expired federal credit, and check SGIP and the City of San Diego's Solar Equity Program if they apply to you.

Step 12: Transfer the account the right way at closing. Open the SDG&E account in your name effective the closing date, and confirm in writing that the system's original interconnection date and billing plan carried over. If you are the seller's spouse or domestic partner on a Solar Billing Plan system, file the legacy attestation. Keep the solar contract, warranties and true-up statements with your closing papers.

Mistakes to avoid

• Taking "solar" in the MLS at face value without seeing the contract, the loan papers and the interconnection date.
• Assuming you will get the seller's Solar Billing Plan export lock-in. A non-spouse buyer does not.
• Counting on the 30% federal solar credit for a system you add after buying. It ended for installations completed after December 31, 2025.
• Judging savings from the seller's monthly bills without seeing the annual true-up.
• Missing a PACE or HERO lien on the property-tax bill.
• Waiting until late in escrow to apply for a lease transfer.
• Forgetting that a lease payment can cut the loan you qualify for, by about $14,762 for every $100 a month at 7.18%.
• Ignoring roof age under the panels.
• Ignoring the Base Services Charge (about $290 a year), which solar credits cannot cover.
• Assuming the 2028 rate request is already on your bill. It is a proposal, and no decision is expected for about a year.

Quick checklist

• C.A.R. Form SOLAR and all solar documents from the seller
• Ownership type confirmed: owned, financed, leased or PPA, or PACE
• Title check for UCC-1 or fixture filings; tax bill checked for PACE or HERO
• Billing plan (NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0 or Solar Billing Plan) and original interconnection date
• Years left on the legacy period
• 12 months of SDG&E and CCA bills plus the last true-up statement
• System size, age, warranties, installer and current servicer; production history
• Roof inspection and a remove-and-reinstall quote
• Lease or PPA terms: payment, escalator, years left, buyout, transfer approval
• Lender's written answer on DTI, appraisal value and lien payoff
• Solar terms written into the purchase agreement
• Your own electric-bill budget and CARE or FERA eligibility
• SDG&E account transfer and legacy date confirmed at closing

What this means day to day

San Diego County has some of the highest electricity prices in the country, and SDG&E is asking for more starting in 2028. Without solar, a home using 800 kWh in a winter month pays roughly $415 on the standard plan, before taxes and fees. A solar system can cut that sharply, but how much depends on the paperwork more than on the panels. An owned NEM 2.0 system with years left earns roughly retail credit for what it sends to the grid. A system on the Solar Billing Plan earns about 4 to 5 cents at midday this month and needs a battery to pay off well. A lease adds a monthly payment that counts against your loan approval. With one listing in five cutting its price and about 15% fewer buyers in contract than a year ago, buyers have time to ask the right questions and room to negotiate. At the 7.18% average rate, a median-priced $889,000 home costs about $5,559 a month in principal, interest and base tax before insurance. Knowing what the electric bill will be, and what the solar system really includes, tells you the true cost of the house.

If you are buying in San Diego County and want help reading a solar contract, checking a home's billing plan and legacy date, or working a lease or lien into your offer, call Choice of America at 833-THIS-BROKER (833-842-7465), visit https://choiceofamerica.com/, or see our San Diego County page at https://choiceofamerica.com/san-diego-county-real-estate.html.

Dr. Hamid Rowshan, Choice of America. DRE #02004794, company DRE #02240008.

This article is general information, not legal, tax, utility, insurance or lending advice. Electric rates, export credits, billing-plan rules, loan guidelines, tax rules and pending rate requests change. The 2028 SDG&E request is a proposal and has not been approved. Bill and export-credit figures are our illustrations using SDG&E's published rates and stated assumptions; they are not quotes, and they do not include taxes, fees, CCA pricing or discounts. Figures come from public utility rate filings and tariffs, public housing-market data, national mortgage-rate surveys, and published local news coverage, as of November 2026. Payment illustrations use stated assumptions and are not quotes. Your lender's Loan Estimate, your solar contract and the solar company's transfer terms, your SDG&E and CCA bills, your title report and tax bill, and your insurer's quote control. Consult licensed California professionals, including a real-estate attorney for contract review and a tax professional for tax questions, before you buy.

Sources: public utility rate filings and tariffs, public housing-market data, national mortgage-rate surveys, and published local news coverage, as of November 2026.